2pt5 Wolf Kindred
by Lamby
Summary: 16 years ago, Xavier left his wife before she could tell him that she was expecting his son David. Why did he leave her, & what repercussions will it have on the future? Also will Gambit's friendship with Blaze ruin his relationship with Rogue?
1. Chapter 1

#About 16 years ago, Xavier left his wife before she could tell him that she was expecting his son, David. Why did he leave her, and what repercussions will it have on the future?#

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**A/N: **I was fascinated by the X-Men Evolution episode 'Sins of the Son', and I've been dying to get my teeth into a story bringing together that storyline and some of the tangents from my own writing. I'd love to know what you think? Number 11 in my Evo fics, though there is no reason to read them in order.

**01**

**Approximately 16 years previously…**

Blustery wind and fine, drenching, icy rain swept endlessly across the Scottish Highlands. It made the late winter afternoon as dark as night, saturating the spectacular, rugged countryside. The North Sea surged tempestuously against the tall, grey-black cliffs, submerging the shingle beaches where in the autumn the grey and common seals had birthed their pups. In the distance, the North Sea oil platforms were a frenzy of activity as men sought to batten down against the incoming storm. The few gulls and cormorants crazy enough to attempt to fly in the gale flitted backwards and forwards like dandelion seeds on the wind.

On the bleak hillsides, the once-spectacular dragon's blood coloured heather had lost its bloom, becoming drab and brown. What few stunted trees grew on the thin soil were coiled, black and wretched against the weather, their deciduous leaves long since departed. The red deer that had patrolled these outcroppings for the rest of the year were cowering now in the many secret valleys of the Scottish countryside. The expectant hinds browsed the thin copper grasses, keeping close together like Antarctic emperor penguins huddling for warmth.

The deep gusts of the gale whistled chill and lupine around the soffits of only human habitation in the vicinity. It rattled the gutters and shook the windows in their frames. Inside, the cosy family dwelling was lit warmly with electric bulbs. There were paintings and photographs on the wall, depicting stunning sunsets and long-gone ancestors. A fat tabby tomcat kneaded the thick wool of the hearthrug, enjoying the heat from the living room gas fire. Up on the hill above the house, the stone silhouette of the old castle keep loomed menacingly in the low cloud; a ruin. Not unlike one man's marriage.

"Charles!" a woman's shrill voice called, stopping her husband in his tracks shortly before he reached the front door. Charles Xavier turned his wheelchair to face her, his brown eyes troubled deeply. "Charles, where are you going in this terrible weather?" pressed his wife, Gabrielle. She halted three steps from the bottom of the stairs, looking down on him like a judge. She folded her arms and pressed her lips together in a stern frown. Gabrielle had forgotten that Charles was a telepath, and he could sense that in truth she was near to tears. She folded her arms to keep him from seeing that her hands were shaking. Yet he had no choice, he had to leave.

"It's her, isn't it?" Gabrielle asked, her voice tremoring dangerously with raw emotion. She slurred the word 'her', making it an insult, and a barbed one at that. Charles stiffened his resolve. He turned back to the door and picked up his one black holdall, his one bag of possessions. "Charles! If you leave now, this marriage is over, I swear it Charles!" Xavier only looked back at his wife sadly, pleadingly. He could make her take that back, but he would not use his powers in such a way. Instead he just told her the stark truth, "She needs me." He opened the door and passed through, out into the storm. The door caught in the wind, and the rain swept in across the hall carpet.

"So do I," Charles' wife begged of the empty hallway, and of the howling wind. Gabrielle unfolded her arms and carefully placed her palms on her flat stomach. "I'm pregnant Charles, I'm carrying your child." But it was in vain that she entreated, as Professor Charles Xavier was already gone.

Roll titles…………………


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**02**

Xavier flew out of Scotland on a commercial flight back to the USA. Two old friends met him at the airport. One was Hank McCoy, a trainee teacher and college football star. The other was Eric Lensherr, also known as Magneto. Both wore expressions of grievous concern, echoing but not quite matching the pure agony on Charles' face. He didn't bother with greetings, but desperately asked them, "Where is she?"

"We don't know Professor," responded Hank, running a hand through his thick black hair with a frown on his pale, freshly-shaven face.

"Can you not?" Eric tapped two fingers to his temple, indicating Charles' telepathy.

"I've already tried, but extensive as my powers are my range is not infinite. I have to find her, she could be in pain, or scared, or…" a thousand worse things flickered in Charles' mind and he swallowed down on bile.

"Ilehana is resourceful," Magneto pointed out. "Not to mention already a powerful telepath. As far as we can work out, she walked straight out of the boarding school's front door. She used her powers to convince everyone at Roehampton that it was fine, so no one thought to stop her. It was an impressive demonstration of skill, Charles, you should be proud."

"Eric, she's eleven years old and out there all alone! I'm terrified, not proud. You'd understand that if you were a father!" Charles snapped, but Magneto didn't even blanche. He had not told Charles the news that his own wife, Magda, was expecting twins. There would be time enough for that when Magneto's Godchild was home safe.

"Then, Charles, we must find a way to amplify your powers so that you can find her, no matter where she is."

"Lets get you back to the mansion," Hank said smoothly, picking up Xavier's bag. "Bayville hasn't been the same without a resident Xavier or two."

"You don't think I ever should have left, do you Hank?" Xavier asked meekly. Hank and Magneto exchanged glances, and it was Magneto that replied in a cautionary voice.

"We know how hard the untimely death of Ilehana's mother hit you, Charles. You've suffered for years, as has Ilehana. We were glad for you when you announced you were marrying again, but we did not anticipate you moving to Scotland. Not with Ilehana saying she would not go. She tried to hide how she thought you were betraying her mother's memory, but we could see through her. We thought that as a telepath, and her father, you would too. You didn't, you enrolled Ilehana in Roehampton boarding school and left her here. It is a harsh truth Charles, but do not think us judgemental when I say I do not believe had you stayed here, that Ilehana would have run away."

A myriad of emotions crossed Xavier's chiselled face in a matter of moments. He was aghast, angry, apprehensive and finally flummoxed.

"There is nothing I can say to defend my actions," Charles admitted. "I have been selfish, and I have not put my daughter first."

"It's Ilehana you should be saying that to, not us," Hank advised patiently.

"So let us go find her," Magneto decreed haughtily. "Come Charles, I have been thinking hard about a way to expand your powers, and I believe I may have found a way."

Not many days later, the three men gathered around a very rough and ready prototype of what they had nicknamed Cerebro. Xavier's tired hands shook as he reached out to take the helmet. Morning, afternoon and night they had slaved over this device for days, convinced it was the only way to find a telepath who did not want to be found. Now it was ready for its first test run, and hopefully to find Ilehana. If it did not work, Charles did not know what he would do.

With his friends looking on, Charles lowered the device over his head and closed his eyes, concentrating. The power hit him like a euphoric smack in the face, and he gasped despite himself. Somewhere, someone asked him something. It could have been Hank making sure Charles was all right, but the voice was distorted as though Charles floated underwater. Overhead whirled a great galaxy of many coloured stars. They sparked and sputtered, going light and dark, never still, never silent. All of them were mutants, using their powers and so visible to the Cerebro machine. All he had to do was concentrate on one, just one…

They flashed past him in intimate detail, accosting Charles with their hopes and fears, pasts and presents. He was sucked into the black hole of their revelations. A feral man in the wilds of Canada, beset with anger and lacking in his memories… A young white haired mutant, drifting around a Cairo marketplace with her human sister… A blue skinned changeling turning into a stunning blonde in order to gain access to something she shouldn't… A juvenile wolf, all long spindly legs and blonde puppy fur, lifting her head up from amongst the sleeping pack… A shaggy, cat-like man who…

#What are you doing here?# this from the wolf pup, with the emphasis on the 'you', as though she knew Xavier. On the cusp of flitting past her, Xavier spun and hauled himself back to the scene. The wolf pup yawned, showing a wide red mouth and sharp, white teeth. When she looked at Charles, she blinked Xavier eyes at him sceptically.

#Ilehana?# Charles asked telepathically. #Is that you?#

#You were maybe expecting that all wolves are telepathic, and interested in a human psychic?# For an eleven year old, Ilehana was remarkably adept at arguments with her elders. She possessed a legendary stubborn streak that Xavier professed came from neither of her parents. #You haven't answered my question Dad.#

#I'm looking for you!# exclaimed Charles. #You've had me worried sick, running off like this!#

#Oh,# in this at least, Ilehana was meek. #But, Dad, I can shape-shift! I can be a wolf!#

#Yes, so I see,# Charles responded. #Ilehana, it is still no excuse to disappear like this. You've worried not only me, but your teachers at school, Hank, Eric and…#

#Don't say it, I know Gabrielle wasn't worried about me,# griped the wolf. Xavier chose not to press the matter.

#Can you change back?# he asked her.

#Yes, but…#

#But what?#

#I don't want to leave the pack. They look after me Dad. Everything's much simpler living with them. I'd rather be here than in school. Here I'm never lonely.# The depth of emotion in his little girl's plea staggered Charles. He wrapped the wolf pup in a warm telepathic embrace, before promising her she did not have to go back to boarding school.

#I'm moving back to Bayville, Ilehana. I didn't realise how much I missed the mansion. I would like it a great deal if you would come home too. You can go to school in Bayville again.#

#Is your wife coming too?# Ilehana was sceptical. She's too young to harbour so much resentment, Xavier thought, but he did not blame her. How could the child be anything but resentful of the woman who had stolen her only parent away? You're a fool, Charles, for not realising it sooner.

#I don't think so Ilehana. It will be just the two of us again, the way it is supposed to be.#

#The way it is supposed to be,# echoed Ilehana. #I like the sound of that…#


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**03**

It was sixteen years later before Charles met his second child, David. Gabrielle resentfully had kept David's existence secret, terribly hurt by what she saw as Xavier's betrayal. Once the divorce was finalised, she returned to using her maiden name of Hawler. She took David to live in America, before finally returning to the house in Scotland when David was a teenager. David grew up resentful of the father he had never met. His mother only called Charles after a hoodlum called Lucas kidnapped David. It turned out that Lucas actually was David, or at least an aspect of his split personality. Lucas had lured Xavier to Scotland to trick him into banishing David to the back of their shared consciousness. This gave Lucas complete control of David's telepathic, telekinetic, shape-shifting and fire-generating powers. After getting what he wanted, Lucas escaped.

Ilehana, the Vixen, grew up to be a remarkable, well-educated, widely travelled and very powerful woman. She eventually returned to Bayville from Europe with a feisty British redheaded thief named Blaze in tow. For a while she settled down with the X-Men and was happy. A deep, understanding relationship blossomed between Vixen and the Wolverine. However, she became overwhelmed by her powers and her own personal crusade to resurrect the Guardians of Destiny in eight of the X-Men. The result ended Ilehana's human life, and she was heavily grieved for.

It was not the end. A pact with the Ancients secretly allowed Ilehana to survive as a wolf. She runs with the pack again, as she did when she was young. Ilehana watches over the X-Men as and when she can, but the pact says she cannot have direct contact with them, or the promise will be broken with tragic consequences. When Gambit, now an X-Man, was attacked in the middle of a forest, Ilehana-as-wolf kept him alive until the rescue party could arrive. In that moment, one X-Man realised the truth, though Ilehana telepathically swore her to secrecy. That X-Man is Blaze, and right now she is on a double date…

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…Laughter and sunshine entwined over Bayville Zoo, as two mutant couples took a stroll between elephants, giraffes and gazelle. Blaze, a petite curly-haired redhead, held hands with her boyfriend Angel. Behind them, Gambit and Rogue followed, also holding hands. They had been here all day, now the sun was dropping lower to the horizon and soon it would be time to leave. Chatting amicably about nothing in particular, the four young people passed the caged wolf pack and headed towards the monkey house.

"Look," pointed Rogue excitedly, giving Gambit's fingers a squeeze, "Monkeys."

"You wanna go see Cherie?" the Cajun crooned devotedly.

"No, she just thought she'd point them out for the fun of it," teased Blaze over her shoulder. Gambit raised an eyebrow at the doe-eyed Brit, who in reply stuck her tongue out at him.

"Actually they are pygmy marmosets," informed the zookeeper. Two of the little tawny multi-coloured fur-balls were clambering over his shoulders as he stood by the front of the monkey house.

"That has gotta be the cutest thing I have ever seen," decreed Angel, cupping his hands so that the keeper could deposit one of the miniature monkeys into his grasp. By his side, Blaze made a distressed 'Ahem' noise, making Angel quickly amend his statement. "Apart from you Blaze obviously."

"Sucker," Gambit teased Warren mercilessly, before getting an elbow in the ribs from Rogue for his troubles. "Aw."

"Are they babies?" Rogue asked the keeper, as the second marmoset climbed into Rogue's gloved hand and proceeded to hug her thumb. "Is that why they're so tiny?"

"No, they are fully grown," educated the keeper. "Duh," added Blaze, "Pygmy, Rogue, that mean anything to you?" Rogue glared at the fire elemental.

"The one you're holding is the male," the keeper told Rogue. " You're friend is holding the female."

"Another girl you've got in the palm of your hand Warren," Blaze flirted with Angel, fluttering her eyelashes at him. She was delighted when Angel flushed pink around the edges.

"Here Blaze," Rogue held out her hands to the redhead. "You hold one for a minute."

"Nuh-huh," Blaze shook her head. "Me and animals don't get along. They mustn't like my smell or something."

"You get along wit' Logan well enough," quipped Gambit. "Don't be such a coward, eh Cherie."

"Alright," Blaze agreed hesitantly. She reached over and offered a finger for the marmoset male to smell. The tiny animal in Rogue's hand leaned over to take a deep sniff of this new scent. Its dislike of the fire elemental's smell was instantaneous. The little beast bit down hard on Blaze's index finger, then shot up Rogue's arm to hide beneath the Southern Belle's hair, chattering in distress.

"You little…" Gambit's hand covered Blaze's foul mouth to protect everyone's ears from the undoubted obscenities. Blaze shrugged her friend off, clutching her bitten finger. "I told you it wouldn't like me," Blaze groused. "Please tell me its not venomous."

"No," the keeper shook his head, looking pale. "I'm really sorry, he's usually really placid. I don't know what's got into him. You'd best go wash that finger though, you don't want it getting infected."

"I think I will," Blaze agreed. "Back in a bit." She turned on her heel and walked away to the nearest restrooms. Her departure seemed to appease the marmoset, who reappeared from inside Rogue's hair and sat blinking on her shoulder. For the next ten minutes or so, Rogue and Angel questioned the keeper on all manner of marmoset zoology. They discovered they were social, arboreal creatures, living in family groups and eating mostly fruit and nuts. Gambit stuck it out as long as he could, before he announced he was going to check on Blaze.

The fire elemental was just coming out of the restrooms with her finger bandaged in tissue paper. She looked a bit pale, and she didn't have a smile for her friend. "It might have looked cute and furry," Blaze told Remy, "But that little monster has teeth like a wolf, I swear."

"Here, lemme see," Remy took hold of Blaze's hand by the wrist and turned it over. He used his other hand to unwrap her makeshift bandage. The bleeding had stopped now anyway, but he could see that the bite had gone deep.

"Nearly had my finger off," Blaze moaned. "What if its got rabies or plague or something?" Gambit didn't answer, he was devoted to straightening the injured finger with one of his own. The damage didn't look so bad if she let it lie straight. "Don't be so tense, Chere," he told her softly. "If you relax, the bite close up an' you can't see not'ing."

"It hurts," Blaze whined.

"I dunno," Gambit shook his head with a lop-sided smile. "A big hard X-Man like you moanin' 'bout a rat bite."

"Monkey," Blaze corrected, letting Remy rub her hand better between his bigger palms. She looked up at him through a fringe of dark eyelashes. He was so intent on making her feel better, for a few heartbeats he didn't notice she was looking at him. Finally he felt her eyes on him, and his red-on-black eyes leapt to meet her gaze. Almost instantly she looked away, anything but meet those soul-piercing eyes. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Was he still looking at her? Blaze risked a glance back, and regretted it. He was, and now she couldn't look away. Blaze's lips parted in a silent gasp, whilst Gambit struggled to find the words he needed to say…


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**04**

"Hey you two!" the call was Warren, jogging across with Rogue like a pair of giddy kids. Gambit dropped Blaze's hand and stepped away from her before either of their partners saw anything untoward. Angel put his arms around Blaze's waist from behind and asked in her ear, "How's your poor finger?"

"It's okay," Blaze told her boyfriend, shrugging him away.

"Ya'll ready t'head out?" Rogue asked, swinging on Gambit's arm not unlike some form of monkey herself. "Ah think we've seen just about everythin' the zoo's got ta offer."

"Sure," Gambit replied. "Why don't we…" He was cut off by an eerie howl, which rapidly gained depth and volume to become a convoluted melody. Interspersed in the howling were chirruping yips and deep-throated growls. Intrigued, the X-Men trotted over to the grey wolf pack enclosure. The wolves seemed in some kind of distress, pacing and snapping at each other. Blaze wasn't the only one to feel disturbed by the scene. Glancing around, there was no sign of anything or anyone that could have upset the animals. All the X-Men could do was shrug and walk away.

"Maybe they caught my scent," Blaze suggested. "Logan's complained that I stink of fire, and if he can smell it, the wolves and that bloomin' monkey can."

"Maybe," Rogue added. "Heck, it could've been anythin', but whatever it was that howling cut right through me. How could a bunch o' rangy mutts make so much noise?"

As the two couples made their way out of the zoo, a tall, flaxen-haired figure stepped out of the shadows to the left of the wolf pen. A wave of a hand bid the beasts to be silent. One glare was all it took to turn the savage predators into quietly whimpering pups.

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Diego's Bar, just down the road from the Xavier Institute and a favourite haunt of Wolverine, was mostly empty. A few men sat on stools at the bar, nursing bottles of beer like they nursed their worries. Two women in sharp suits talked business and ex-husbands in a booth by the mumbling jukebox. They were drinking white wine spritzers with a vengeance. Diego himself was serving, with half an eye on the financial pages of the newspaper besides him.

Feeling thirsty, Angel claimed the first round and strode purposefully to the bar, with Blaze hot in his heels to provide extra hands for carrying the drinks. Gambit headed straight to the pool table, dropping a couple of coins into the slot and pushing the tab to release the motley of balls with a thunderous clatter. Rogue glanced at her watch, and was instantly aghast. "Remy I'm really sorry, but its getting' late an Ah got a book report due tomorrow that I ain't even started yet. I gotta get goin'."

"No problem Cherie," Gambit shrugged. "You be alright gettin' home from here?"

"Sure," Rogue promised, giving Remy's hand a squeeze in her gloved one. The wry Cajun twisted the grip so he could kiss the back of her hand, making Rogue blush. "Catch ya later guys," she waved to Blaze and Angel. Then she was gone.

"Was it something we said?" Blaze asked Angel jokingly. Warren shrugged and dished up the cash for the pitcher of beer. Blaze picked up three glasses and headed back to the pool table, where Remy was diligently chalking the end of a cue. She was about to ask what had happened to Rogue, when behind her a mobile phone started to ring. As Blaze glanced back, Warren fished the cell phone out of his pocket and answered it with a brisk, "Hello?"

"Bet you five bucks it gonna be jus' the two o' us," Gambit challenged Blaze quietly, brushing past her to make the break on the pool game. The balls clattered this way and that, bouncing off the green velvet cushions in every direction. Blaze didn't reply as Angel ended the call and brought the beer pitcher over.

"That was my company," Angel explained apologetically. "There's been some kinda disaster. I'm sorry Blaze, I'm gonna have to go into work. You'll be alright here?"

"I'll be fine," Blaze assured him, accepting his chaste kiss on the lips. Gambit and Angel exchanged curt nods across the pool table, before Angel left. Blaze shook her head briskly and picked up her pool cue. The first shot she lined up came off perfectly and the ball dropped sweetly into the pocket. As she moved onto the next, Gambit poured the beers.

"Nice to know he'll ditch you in a second if work comes callin'," Gambit teased flatly.

"He's got to earn the money to pay for the lifestyle to which I would like to become accustomed," replied Blaze coolly, sinking the second shot but missing the third. She supped on her beer as Gambit perused the table for an opening. "At least he didn't ditch me coz it's a school night."

"Huh," Gambit laughed dryly, "Be nice for one o' us to finish high school."

"I'll drink to that," Blaze agreed, eyes sparkling as Gambit potted a ball.

"So you an' chicken-boy," Gambit started, before breaking off to curse as he missed an easy shot. The balls rattled round the table for a moment, but nothing landed in a pocket. Blaze pursed her lips, striding gracefully around the table with her cue in hand as Gambit straightened up, watching her intently. "What exactly d'you see in him, apart from the money Cherie?"

Thinking silently for a few moments, Blaze bent over and lined up another shot. At the end of the table Remy failed to avert his eyes from her low cut top. She potted the ball with ease, and then headed up to Gambit's end of the table to make another shot. Standing back and sipping from his glass, Gambit decided he was pretty keen in this view as well. Blaze potted the shot and straightened up, finally ready with an answer. Whatever Gambit had been expecting, this wasn't it, "He makes me feel safe." Remy stayed silent whilst she missed her next shot. Going to take his turn, he brushed past her saying, "I wouldn't have t'ought a wild child like you would wanna feel too safe."

"Some things change," Blaze replied, standing next to Gambit with her back to the table as he missed his next shot. He may have missed, but he'd also snookered her. Cursing under her breath, Blaze ceded the fault and pirouetted on the spot. Gambit was stood right behind her, stepping up to her until he was barely a hand-span away. Blaze leant back against the pool table, trapped where she was by the handsome Cajun. He caught Blaze's eye so she couldn't look away. Remy spoke softly, his words rich and fragrant with meaning, "Some t'ings don't."

Blaze gulped delicately, biting her lip. Check, thought Gambit, playing her like a chess game. A strange look came into Blaze's eyes as she pondered Gambit's declaration. She reached out a slender hand to pluck at something resting against Gambit's throat. It was a leather thong on which hung a polished black pebble, smooth and cold. Into the pebble was carved an ace of spades in sharp relief. Blaze smoothed her thumb over the surface of the pebble, before looking back up at Remy.

"Did Rogue give you this?" she asked quietly, dangerously. Checkmate, cursed Remy to himself, she got me again. He neither affirmed nor denied her suspicions, though she was spot on correct. A token from his untouchable girlfriend, one he wore to remind him to be faithful. At the moment it felt like a noose. Blaze decided she needed to keep talking to fill the silence that made a mockery of both of them, "I'm happy with Angel, and I know you like Rogue. We've both moved on Rem," she told him righteously. Closing the conversation, Blaze slid over to one side, kilting her head over her shoulder to nod to the pool table. "Its your shot," she pointed out.

As Gambit played his shot, he saw her run her gaze over him, giving a coy little bit of a smile. "I saw that Cherie," Gambit told her as he potted another ball. "After all that holier than thou speech an' your angelic boyfriend, you were checkin' me out. Why do you sanctify somet'ing that already died?"

"I have no idea what you're…" Blaze started to deny it. At that moment the sound of a terrible scream cut through the casual chatter in the quiet bar. Gambit and Blaze exchanged a confused glance, dropped everything and ran outside.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**05**

The scream had sounded like it came from the rooftop of the building next door. By day the ground floor was a rare bookshop, but now it was closed for the night. The shutters were down over the window, and the door was locked. On the first floor of the building was the flat where the owner lived, though all the lights were off and the windows were dark. Up above, there was a roof terrace illuminated only by the orange glow of the streetlights. It was there that the scream had come from. Blaze and Gambit could make out a dark figure moving backwards towards the edge of the roof. An unholy and blood-curdling howl floated up from the rooftop, splitting the nighttime. A wolf howl…

"We got to get up there," Blaze demanded, running to the door of the shop. Gambit ran with her, and together they shoulder-barged their way in. The X-Men charged up the two flights of pitch-black stairs, taking two steps at once, only to be thwarted at the roof terrace door. It was blocked from the outside by something heavy and immovable. A second scream, a scream of pure terror, became a gargled death rattle.

Desperate to get out there, Gambit put his hands to the door and charged it with his powers. He pushed Blaze back down the stairs a little to protect her as the wooden blockade disintegrated energetically. The X-Men charged onto the roof, leaping the stone bench that had been used to block the door from opening…only to be way too late. The screaming victim, most likely the bookshop owner, had been savaged and killed. His blood looked black under the stars. Blaze looked away, feeling ill. Gambit shook his head in aghast wonder. Whatever had attacked this man was big, but it wasn't here. Moreover, there was no way it could have got past the two X-Men to escape down the stairs. So where, and what, was it?

"Where'd it go?" Remy asked aloud.

"I don't know, I don't see it," Blaze answered, going to the edge of the roof and peering down. "Nothing is so stupid as to try and jump off, surely? The only way down is the way we came up."

"Dis is freakin' me out," Gambit admitted. "A dog, or wolf, did that to that man, but no dog put that bench across the door. Two o' us couldn't shift it. An' whatever it is, its gone somewhere, but there ain't not'ing here."

"Maybe its time we were someplace else as well," pleaded Blaze. "Please Remy, I don't like this, lets go."

"Alright," Gambit turned his back on the body and went to Blaze. He draped his arm comfortingly around her shoulders and guided her to the dark stairwell.

On an external window ledge on the second storey, a lone human silhouette listened to the X-Men departing. As the two X-Men left the roof, the lean figure stretched up and grabbed the edge of the roof. Sinuously the figure pulled upwards and climbed back onto the rooftop. The moonlight glinted off sleek blonde hair, and on the blood around the figure's mouth. With the back of a hand, the figure wiped the blood away. Ignoring the dead victim of the mauling, the mutant stealthily followed the two X-Men down the stairs, before disappearing unseen into the night.

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"Following the death of Mr Sellers," Tabitha read from the front page of the local newspaper the next day. "The police are at a loss to explain the circumstances, and are not ruling out mutant involvement. In the meantime, Bayville residents are warned to be on guard against stray animals…"

"Did Blaze tell you what happened, Tabitha?" Magma asked, as Boom Boom tossed the newspaper in a trashcan and shrugged. They were walking home from school. Tabby shoved her hands in her jeans pockets whilst Magma looked at her expectantly.

"Yeah, Blaze mentioned some stuff when I saw her this morning. Nothin' like detailed though, she's still pretty shook up, y'know?"

"That's funny," quipped Kurt in between mouthfuls of potato chips. "She didn't look too shaken up when she got back last night. Still, that could have had something to do with having Gambit's arm around her shoulders."

"I'm shocked Blue," Boom Boom laughed. "I didn't think you had it in you to go spreading vicious rumours about people like that!"

"Hey, I'm just telling you what I saw," protested Kurt.

"I hate to interrupt," said Magma, "But what's going on over there?" She pointed up the road to where a crowd of people were gathered around the end of an alleyway.

"Lets go see," decided Tabby, grabbing Magma's wrist and dragging her along at a jog. Kurt took a shifty glance about him, and then bamfed to the back of the crowd. As the girls arrived, Kurt was already elbowing his way through the mob to see what it was they were looking at. It was as he broke through the front of the mass of people that he suddenly wished he hadn't. He blindly turned and pushed his way back out again. Dizzily, he swooned. Magma and Tabitha caught him by the arms and held him tight.

"What is it?" demanded Tabby.

"Another body," Kurt gasped. "There, in the alley."

"Wow," Tabitha breathed reverently, "I wanna see…" She turned and tried to prise her way between the crowded bodies. "Where is it?" A hand grabbed her shoulder and in the blink of an eye the three friends were outside the mansion. "Aww, Blue, whatcha go and do that for?" Tabby griped with her hands on her hips.

"Trust me Tabitha, you do not want to see that," Kurt told her frankly, still feeling queasy.

"Um, Kurt?" Magma addressed Nightcrawler. "How come if you could just 'port us home, why were we walking in the first place?"

"Exercise," Kurt shrugged. Then, remembering the scene on the street, Kurt's eyes rolled back in his skull and he passed put on the Institute's front lawn.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that same day, Xavier gathered his instructors together in his office for an emergency meeting. Whether sitting down or leaning against the wall, all the X-Men wore the same serious expression. As well as Storm, Logan and Hank, Xavier had included Gambit, Blaze and Jean. The telekinetic mutant was on a brief trip home from university. She'd expected a genetics tutoring session with the Professor. What she had walked into was a crisis, and all of them knew it.

"As you are all aware," Xavier addressed his troupe solemnly. "There have now been two murders in the Bayville area, most likely caused by a mutant with animalistic tendencies."

"Make that three," countered a familiar voice from the doorway.

"Evan!" cried Ororo, lurching to her feet to go across to her Morlock nephew.

"Its good to see you too Auntie O." Spyke put up with her embrace like any teenager, with minimum decorum. Gruffly he pushed her away, waving forward his suspicious-looking companion. "You all know Callisto."

"Three murders?" Wolverine cut short the pleasantries, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Callisto announced, staring Logan down like she was daring him to call her a liar. "A biochemist from the sewage treatment plant was found by my people today. He was still in his lab coat, or at least what was left of it."

"You did the right thing coming to tell us, Evan," Ororo praised her nephew. "I'm proud of you." Evan smiled slightly around his bone-plated face, but Callisto only clenched her fists.

"There is a good reason why we came here," the Morlock leader divulged. "Next to the latest victim, written in blood, was a name." She raised a bony finer and pointed straight at Xavier, "Your name."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**06**

Silence held, shocked and stagnant until the whole room reeked of it. As the other X-Men wrestled with the information, Jean was skipping on ahead.

"I don't understand, there must be a link of some kind from the victims to the Professor. Something we haven't seen before."

"Not necessarily," Beast conjectured. "It could be something as simple as a mutant crying out for the Professor's help."

"I don't think so, Hank," Xavier himself chipped in. "If that were the case, I would have been able to locate the murderer through Cerebro. Whoever this individual may turn out to be, he or she has tremendous control, enough to render themselves invisible to my efforts."

"Do we have the identities of the dead men?" Hank wanted to know.

"Here," Callisto threw a lapel tag containing an ID badge across the room, evidentially removed from the most recently deceased. Gambit caught it and passed it straight to the Professor. "Whatever you decide to do about this, I suggest you do it quickly. We got here as soon as we could, but the police won't be far behind. C'mon Spyke, you can visit the family later, after all this has died down." The Morlocks turned to leave, shuffling back to the sewers the way they had come.

"Does the name ring any bells at all Professor?" urged Jean, placing a hand on Xavier's wrist as he stared intently at the picture on the ID badge. The photograph depicted a smart-looking young man in his late twenties. He wore spectacles, and sported tufty brown hair with a day's worth of stubble. "Andrew Isaacson," the Professor read the name out loud, barely registering that Jean had spoken.

"The first victim was Thomas Sellers, a retired lecturer in ancient history," Blaze supplied, trying not to think too much about her lasting impression of Mr Sellers. "The second was Father Ross McKinley, a Catholic priest who worked with Bayville's homeless. They were good, decent men Professor, just like you."

"And my name written in blood besides the third body…" Xavier reiterated out loud. He was drifting now, meandering the paths and twisted back alleyways of his own memories, trying to think of a single reason to link these men to him. This killer was cold, ruthless and determined; he or she must be stopped at all costs. But how, unless some pattern could be distinguished in how the victims were chosen? Around the room, the X-Men watched Xavier intently, at once fascinated and bewildered by this turn of events. Finally Xavier recoiled as if slapped, "Hank, the bookcase behind you if you would be so kind. Are there any yearbooks on the third shelf from the top?"

"Yearbooks, Professor?" Jean asked hesitantly.

"One moment Jean, I will explain everything," Xavier dismissed her. "Hank?"

"Indeed there are, Charles," Hank announced, hanging upside down from the curtain rail so that he could comfortably reach the upper epsilons of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. "Are you interested in school or college?"

"School, Hank, definitely."

"Roehampton or Bayville?"

"Roehampton?" Blaze asked no one in particular.

"It's a very exclusive boarding school," Jean revealed. "But I've never known anyone to attend there. Did you go there Professor?"

"I thought you were educated in England, Charles?" Ororo questioned.

"They are not my yearbooks," Xavier replied distractedly. "And I am not sure Hank, it could be either school. Best that you bring them all down."

"Of course," Hank replied. He scooped a section of neatly stacked yearbooks off the shelf with one foot and used his three remaining limbs to descend gracefully to the floor.

"Ilehana," Wolverine suddenly announced breathlessly. "Ilehana went to Roehampton, and to school in Bayville." He lurched clumsily to his feet, clenching his fists, his lips drawn back over his teeth in an angry snarl. "Why can't they just let her rest in peace?" Across the room, a mute Blaze physically recoiled into herself. She knew something that the rest of them did not, and the thought of Ilehana being alive and involved in this was far worse than her being dead.

"Logan, please," Xavier pleaded. "We don't know that yet. If some of you could look through Ilehana's old yearbooks perhaps something will present itself." Jean and Storm reached for books, and after a moment Blaze and Gambit helped themselves too.

"No Charles, this is too much!" Logan roared. "Someone is mocking Ilehana, butchering people in animal form."

"The police will want alibis from all of us," Hank cautioned, his furry blue face sombre. "Especially you Logan."

"What!"

"Beast is right," Xavier raised a hand to placate Wolverine. "Come, we will continue this next door." Hank nodded, shepherding Wolverine out of the room. Xavier turned to Ororo, "If you should find confirmation…"

"We will let you know straight away," Ororo promised. Xavier nodded and left the room. A moment later, shouting could be heard through the wall, but the words were muffled to obscurity by the thick walnut panelling in the old house.

The team of four worked in silence, searching for evidence to back up the Professor's theory. Biting her lip, Blaze flicked though page after page of forgotten faces, happy and smiling photographs of children now long grown up and gone. It was hard to remain objective, to not get distracted by the individual stories, the school-day triumphs and sporting achievements now remembered by no one.

She turned the page and came face to face with the eleven-year-old version of Ilehana Xavier. The blonde child stared sombrely at the camera, not smiling like the other children, her Xavier eyes full of pent-up emotion. The script underneath stated her name, and allocated her year group's prizes for science, mathematics and history. She had also been on the chess team and the cross-country running team. A child so full of potential, hopes and dreams, and now…

It was too much. Blaze slammed the tome shut and silently left the room. She was outside and halfway to the garages before she realised where she was going. Up above her, the sparkling stars spun in their orbits as they always had, down through the ages. Blaze's thoughts spun with them, tortured that her old friend could have turned into a monster. By keeping her silence that Ilehana was not dead, had Blaze played some unwitting part? Had the loneliness Blaze had seen in the eyes of that child in the picture finally driven Vixen over the edge? She didn't know she was being followed until a hand touched the curve of her hip, "Chere?"

"I'm alright, I just need some space," she dodged out of Gambit's touch without looking back.

"You can't leave Blaze. If dis maniac is takin' out people that knew Ilehana, you could be a target."

"Gambit, I think I've done something awful," Blaze admitted, turning to her friend and looking up at him with harrowed eyes. "What if it is Vixen that's doing all this?" Gambit didn't understand. He took hold of Blaze and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Vixen's gone, Blaze, she's gone," he told her. Blaze said nothing, but silently slid her slender fingers under Gambit's t-shirt. She felt the tripe scars that marked the lacerations Gambit had received from Behemoth. That attack had nearly killed Remy, but Vixen had kept him alive until Blaze had got there. Remembering the look on the wolf's face that night, Blaze felt relief flood through her. Ilehana was simply not capable of the murder, no matter what she had been through. Blaze never should have doubted her friend. Why won't you come home Vixen, the Firefly thought. It would be so much easier if you were here to sort this mess out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**07**

#I am here,# a soothing mind voice reminded Blaze. #But I cannot come home, not ever again Blaze. I risk everything even by communicating with you like this, pack-sister. Don't look for me.#

#Ilehana?# Blaze turned in Gambit's arms and looked across the Institutes grounds. Was that a wolf-shadow in the undergrowth, or just her rampant imagination? She couldn't be sure. A movement by the gates was Lance's jeep pulling up, Wanda at the wheel. Tabitha and Magma were sneaking out. Blaze saw them, but lost in her own troubles she didn't think to stop them. Instead she let Gambit lead her back inside, to where Jean and Storm had found all the proof they needed that this was something to do with the Vixen.

"Here," Jean had found the third victim, as he was in his high school days in a Bayville High yearbook. "Andrew Isaacson, he was in Ilehana's science class all the way through high school. They alternated winning the science prize between them."

"Of course," Xavier remembered sombrely. "They were lab partners. Ilehana never forgave Andrew for beating her to the top mark in the class in their final year, through a project on woodlice that Ilehana had abandoned as she thought it too simplistic to get a top grade, until Andrew proved her wrong."

"Father Ross was a chaplain at Roehampton at the same time Ilehana was resident," Ororo informed the group.

"Even as a child, Ilehana loved philosophical debate," Xavier remembered sadly, missing his daughter a great deal. "The good Father always had time for discussion with her. Ilehana greatly admired him, thought his beliefs were not her own."

"Mr Sellers was the ancient history teacher at Bayville High. He took a trip to Egypt in Ilehana's final year," Jean ran a finger down the page of photographs from the expedition. "I don't see Ilehana though."

"She was there," Xavier confirmed, rubbing the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Oh she was indeed on that trip. It was the start of her quest for information on the Guardians that had plagued her dreams as a child. How could I be so stupid! Why did I not see this before?"

"We got there in de end, Professor," Gambit consoled the older man. "Question is, what's next eh? Knowin' it Vixen that links the victims not gonna make the murderer give up, non?"

"Easy," Wolverine growled. "We catch the animal using bait,"

"What kind of bait?" Storm questioned, not liking the sound of this plan at all.

"Sorry to interrupt," Nightcrawler peered around the doorway in his pyjamas. "But it's Tabby and Magma, they've vanished!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile, on a wooded hilltop overlooking the lights of Bayville, three teenage girls reclined in their jeep under a sky of sparkling stars. The car radio was humming quietly to itself, adding a rocking soundtrack to a laughter filled conversation.

"So what really happened at Halloween you guys?" Magma asked. "Did you truthfully nearly contact ghosts?"

"It almost worked," snorted Tabby. "Until Gambit rang Blaze's cell phone, scared us all witless and messed it all up."

"He was in trouble Boom Boom," Wanda reminded Tabby, who grinned an apology.

"What was that?" Magma asked, peering through the trees to the left of the car.

"What was what?" Tabby asked, frowning at her younger friend.

"I saw it too," Wanda announced, standing up in the car and looking distrustfully at the darkness through the trees.

"Probably just some animal," Tabby tried to dismiss it with a wave of her hand. As she did so, she saw something herself, skirting the trees on the other side of the copse. The three girls grouped themselves into a huddle, backed up against each other as they watched the trees nervously.

"Pretty big animal for Bayville," muttered Wanda.

"Oh I don't know," a jovial, yet somehow malicious male Scottish voice said from just beyond the darkness. "I thought werewolves were pretty common around Bayville these days…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Any sign of them?" Blaze's voice crackled over the radio. Gambit glanced at Rogue, and she shook her head. "Not a damn t'ing," Gambit replied into the communicator. Rogue revved her bike engine, pulling away. Gambit pocketed the radio and followed his girlfriend, trench coat flying out behind him as he raced his bike to catch up.

All of the senior team members were out looking for Magma and Tabitha, except for Jean and Xavier who were searching using Cerebro. Up above Bayville, Angel and Storm soared on the early morning breeze. Rogue and Gambit patrolled the streets on motorbikes. Blaze and Kitty had taken Blaze's silver sports car. Hank and Nightcrawler were cruising in the X-Van, along with Iceman and the four-armed Golan. Typically whilst the Professor had been splitting the teams up, Logan had sneaked out to go and do his 'lone wolf' thing. He'd taken the news that the murders were connected to Ilehana badly, and everyone was worried he might do something stupid.

"I think I might have spotted something," Angel's voice sounded over the radio. "There's some activity at the zoo, the animals are going crazy…" As if to back him up, a lupine howl cut Angel off mid-sentence.

"That's not far from here," Kitty pointed out to Blaze. The redhead grimly pulled a u-turn in the middle of the road and floored the gas pedal. Despite the circumstances, Kitty couldn't help herself as she whooped.

"Wanna take a look?" Gambit asked Rogue, who rolled her eyes at him behind her helmet visor. She answered, "What d'you think?"

"Tres bein," Gambit replied, hauling his bike around and setting the pace back into town. Elsewhere, Storm and Hank were also converging on the zoo. In Cerebro, Xavier flexed telepathic muscle and focused in on the location.

"It must be them," Xavier told Jean. "Because someone there is blocking my efforts. Come on, we need to get down there."

Meanwhile, Wolverine had been tracking Magma and Boom Boom's scent. He'd tracked them as far as the zoo entrance, where he risked a joke in the direction of Rogue and Gambit as they pulled up. "Bit early for feeding time, don't you think?" Storm and Angel descended from the rapidly lightening sky, as dawn became a sliver of rose coloured light along the horizon. Blaze and Hank pulled up in their vehicles, closely followed by Jan's SUV in which rode the Professor. It was the work of mere moments to seat the Professor in his wheelchair, and then the completed party was ready to head into the zoo.

The big wrought iron gates were no obstacle to a team sporting both Kitty and Kurt. In every direction, animals clamoured in their cages and enclosures. The lions and tigers paced, issuing threatening growls from the backs of their throats. Black spider monkeys cackled on their islands, flinging themselves from climbing frame to climbing frame furiously. The sea lions filled the air with their persistent fish-breathed barking. Quietly the X-Men walked through the melee. They knew which pen they needed to go to.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**08**

The grey wolves were waiting for them, as were Tabby, Wanda and Magma. The three girls were clinging to each other in the centre of the enclosure, whilst the wolves circled them cautiously. Tabitha spotted the approaching X-Men before the others. She cried out piteously, "Professor, help us!"

"Nightcrawler, get them out of there," Xavier ordered briskly. An uncomfortable tingling was playing havoc with his telepathy. Something was not right here at all. Kurt nodded once, concentrated, and disappeared. Instantly he reappeared next to the girls. He took hold of Magma and Tabitha's hands, with Wada holding onto Tabby's arm. Again he concentrated. Nothing happened.

"Um, Kurt?" Magma pleaded. "Can we go now please?"

"You know, I'd love to," Kurt replied with a gulp as one of the wolves snarled at him, baring its teeth. "But something's not letting me."

From the rear of the enclosure there came an eerie, haunting laugh. A massive grey-black wolf walked purposefully towards the X-Men outside of the pen. It had easily twice the dense mass of muscle of the other wolves, which all cowered away from this dominant specimen. The wolf's eyes were bright with anger and madness. A short distance from the perimeter fence, the big black wolf started to run. It took the fence in one bound, its back claws scrabbling briefly as it dragged itself over ungracefully.

Kitty squealed as it dropped to their side of the fence. Lifting its massive, bone-crushingly powerful head, the wolf pulled back its lips and snarled a silent laugh. As the X-Men waited with bated breath, the laugh became verbal, even human. The wolf body faded, and a young man stood in the wolf's place. Scruffy blonde hair and beard, sharp facial features, an angular jaw and retro clothing created an opponent that Jean and Xavier had battled against before, and lost. Lucas; the charming, destructive and self-obsessed evil entity that had taken over David Xavier's life.

"So nice of you to join us, Dad," Lucas cackled at Xavier. "You too Jean, this is a proper little reunion, isn't it? So nice of you to bring all your friends along, that will make things so much easier for me. I have to admit, I love the uniforms."

#"David!"# Xavier called frantically, both aloud and telepathically, trying to get through to his son. #"David!"#

"He can't hear you Dad," Lucas laughed. "He can't hear anyone anymore."

"All right Bub, I've about had it with you already," Wolverine growled. There was a snickt and six adimantium claws made their entrance. Lucas seemed wholly unfazed. He pinned Logan with an icy stare, saying, "Sit." Whether through telepathy, telekinesis, or a combination of both, Logan's legs crumpled and he sat. "Lie down," Lucas commanded, smirking. Again Wolverine did as he was told, lying on his back and staring up at the sky. "Now roll over, dog," Lucas laughed, but Xavier had seen enough and put a defensive bubble around Logan's mind. Slowly Wolverine shook his woozy head and crawled back onto his knees.

"You can't stop me," Lucas spat at Charles. "None of you can, I'm invincible." Toys, that's all you lot are to me, just toys. You don't know how pathetic you are. I could exterminate you all now and not even break into a sweat."

"If you hold us in such contempt," challenged Storm. "Why come to Bayville? Why embark on a wave of terrible attacks to draw us into a confrontation?"

"For a challenge!" divulged Lucas. "To lure out the one person who might actually be worth my time. I mean, imagine my surprise when I found out I wasn't the only child of Xavier? Everywhere I've been, it seems she's been there already. I'm living in the shadow of a sister I didn't know I had, and I don't like it. It ends now."

"Ilehana is dead!" exclaimed Xavier. "You've killed three people in a vile crusade against a dead woman!"

"Is she now?" scoffed Lucas. He looked straight at Blaze, who quailed and tried to look away. "You, girl, come here." As soon as he commanded, Blaze's face went blank, expressionless, and she stepped out of line. Gambit reached out and grabbed her arm, saying, "Blaze, non!" Blaze's powers flared up, the arm Remy held turning into liquid fire. Gambit cried out as his hand and forearm fell through the fire. He was burned to the elbow and his clothing caught fire, until Bobby had the sense to ice it. Gambit fell to his knees, cradling his injured arm to his chest, hissing his pain though his teeth. Blaze just kept walking.

"Oh I like this one," chuckled Lucas approvingly. He opened his arms to welcome Blaze to his side, a grin on his face that made everyone's skin crawl. He put a hand in the small of Blaze's back. She leant backwards, totally trusting the maniac who held her mind in a vice. "Her mind is a minefield of secrets and lies. I'm surprised you telepaths have been able to resist the temptation of a sneaky peek."

"Telepathy should never be used on someone without their express permission, except in extreme circumstances," lectured Jean.

"Your loss," shrugged Lucas, his attention rapt on the pretty little paper doll in his arms. Xavier tried to put a protective bubble around Blaze's mind, but Lucas was ready for him and easily overrode the attempt. Truly he was becoming inordinately powerful. "Now Blaze," Lucas addressed the girl. "You wouldn't mind me sharing some of your deepest, darkest memories with the X-Men, would you?" He passed his hand in front of Blaze's blank face, and she swooned. Xavier tried again to stop Lucas, but it was too late. The images from Blaze's mind were already pouring forth like wine from a bottle.

The memories flashed before the eyes of everyone present as Blaze's mind was grossly invaded and exploited. To begin with, Lucas set the scene by delving into Blaze's criminal past. There were flashes of break-ins, dodgy dealings and escapes from the authorities in Europe. Then there were more recent images of Blaze letting the team down. Everyone knew now how she'd bad-mouthed the X-Men when she had gone off to rescue Gambit with Wanda and Tabitha without telling anyone. They knew too that tonight Blaze had seen Tabby and Magma leaving the Institute and said nothing. Xavier closed his eyes in anguish that Blaze did not trust them and in turn could not be trusted. It did nothing to stop the images being burned into his brain.

Deeply private and personal memories were carelessly extracted next. Lucas passed his hand over Blaze's face again, sucking the details out of her. Blaze and Angel holding hands, was followed by Blaze's head on Logan's shoulder. Blaze in Remy's arms and touching the scars on his belly, or another time alluringly toying with the thong around his neck. Rogue and Angel's faces both darkened with anger as they saw the betrayal of their partners in these memories. Still, Lucas was not finished.

"And now, for the crowning glory!" Lucas announced, pushing Blaze backwards with two-fingered pressure to her temple. The brainwashed girl gasped and wriggled, trying to regain her self-control. She failed, and one last secret was torn from her fractured mind. The image was of a blonde wolf with piercing eyes, and a sworn solemn promise to not let anyone know the truth. Ilehana was alive, and Blaze had seen her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**09**

A rumble of thunder rose from the wolf pen behind Lucas. Slowly he turned around, just in time to see Kurt, Magma, Boom Boom and the Scarlet Witch scale the fence and jump out of the enclosure. The wolves that Lucas had thought he had guarding the teens were not showing any interest. Far from it, they had come forward to flank a newcomer amongst their ranks, one they respected. The blonde wolf stopped her thunderous growl, but the snarl stayed firm on her canine face. Long white teeth and red, red gums filled Lucas' vision, and he let go of Blaze. The Firefly hit the floor with a thump, her head bouncing on the asphalt. No one paid her any attention.

"Ilehana," whispered Logan, knowing he would recognise that wolf until the end of his days, but still not quite believing it to be true.

"Welcome, pack-sister," Lucas smiled falsely, like a viper poised to strike. The wolf's ears flicked back, her tail low as she expressed her displeasure. She had only four words for Lucas, but they were communicated with force and passion, #You are not pack!#

Ilehana-as-wolf bunched her muscles and leapt smoothly over the fence. Landing on the concourse in front of Lucas, she barely touched the ground before leaping again. She barrelled into the usurper in her half-brother's body and pinned him to the floor. Planting a large paw on each of his shoulders and his thighs, she held him there, snarling in his face. Her mind continued the leap, cannoning forth into Lucas' mind whilst his guard was down.

On the fiery field of Lucas' mind, Ilehana found herself suspiciously alone. The hackles went up on the blonde wolf's back. Suddenly there was a flurry of movement to her left. Vixen turned instantaneously, only to be knocked backwards by the pounce of a massive grey-black beast. The two wolves fell together, a tangle of thrashing limbs and snapping jaws. Ilehana bit down on Lucas' throat, only for him to wrench his huge skull away and leave her with a mouthful of fur. The black wolf kicked out at her, claws searing like flame down Vixen's flank.

#You're not strong enough to fight me here, in my own mind,# Lucas told her haughtily. At his command, the ground beneath Vixen gave way, sending her tumbling down a steep slope.

#It is not your mind,# Vixen decreed, bouncing back to her feet and charging Lucas. The black wolf neatly sidestepped her run, clipping Vixen's shoulder so that she skidded and crashed heavily. Lucas laughed a silent wolf laugh, as the empty dreamscape around him contorted and drew dark with malice.

#This is it, sister,# Lucas informed her. #You've no strength left to fight. Accept your death with dignity.#

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back in the zoo, the X-Men watched as Vixen's body empty of its mind shuddered from nose to tail. She was weakening, whilst Lucas seemed totally unchanged. The Professor gripped the arms of his wheelchair so hard his knuckles protruded white and angry. Jean reached forward and took the Professor's right hand in hers. She asked, "Can we help her?"

"Of course we can," Xavier decided fiercely. "We can give her our strength." He and Jean closed their eyes, focused their telepathy, and together they jumped in after Vixen. Inside Lucas' mind, the blonde wolf welcomed the other two telepaths. The three X-Men merged together as one, creating a golden wolf. All around them, Lucas was manipulating the landscape again. Up became down, light turned dark, and all the time the golden wolf could feel Lucas' black wolf stalking, circling, poised to renew their battle once more.

The attack came out of nowhere, a blast of fire that crashed like a tsunami into the golden wolf. The black wolf barrelled through the flame, clamping massive, bone-crushing jaws on the golden wolf's neck. Simultaneously back in the real world, all three conjoined telepaths cried out wordlessly in agony. The golden wolf fought to escape, dropping and rolling and shaking its head frantically, but to no avail. Lucas would break the neck of the golden beast, and by killing the wolf he would sever the minds of the three telepaths from their bodies, condemning them all.

"They're not strong enough!" cried Ororo, seeing what was happening as the colour drained from Xavier's face and Jean swooned. "We have to help them."

"Charles!" Logan shouted down the Professor's ear, grasping his left hand in a fierce grip. "Take my strength Charles, use it to fight him!" For a moment, nothing happened. Then Xavier's eyes flickered behind his eyelids. Logan felt the telepath hook into his inner strength like a leech. The first drag on Wolverine's strength forced the feral man down on to one knee. Now he was joined with the wolf, Wolverine added his reckless fighting prowess. The golden wolf kicked out, bucking like a bronco to shake the black wolf off. In the real world, Storm took Jean's other hand and more strength hurled itself through the link. The golden wolf swelled, healed of its wounds, brighter and faster than before. One by one the X-Men poured their strength into the golden wolf. In the end, the strongest blow Lucas could land merely glanced off the golden creature.

The Vixen's words were finally repeated, though this time they were the words of all the X-Men. #You are not pack.# Each word reverberated around Lucas, humming through his mind. He cowered, knowing what was about to happen. Golden telepathic energy seethed from the X-Wolf, blasting like cleansing radiation through the murderous creature before them. In one fell swoop, Lucas disintegrated into a cloud of golden vapour, and was gone.

Exhausted, the various X-Men started to pull back from the link. Vixen let them go until only Jean, her father and Logan remained. With a shake of her wolf-head, she let them know her intentions. There was an assent; they would continue to ride with her until her mission was complete. Now Lucas was destroyed, the dreamscape was melting away around the edges. They needed to rescue David before it was too late.

The golden wolf leapt agilely from floating island of dreamscape to floating island of dreamscape. Jean expressed a worry about finding their way back, but Vixen ignored her. They trekked to the very recesses of this tangled, convoluted consciousness, searching for any sign of David. Then, eventually, they heard a cry, #Dad!#

#I'm coming son,# Xavier swore through the wolf they shared.

#I'll stay here and hold it together as best I can,# Jean decided, stepping clear of the wolf. #It might buy you some more time.# She received thanks from the golden wolf, who then headed off in the direction of the voice. Jean put her hands to her temple and concentrated on slowing the decay of their surroundings. The wolf broke into a run, now not only forced to leap the increasingly fractured terrain, but also having to dodge falling debris like meteors. Suddenly, the wolf had to skid to a halt atop a steep precipice, below which a vast nothingness threatened to swallow them all. Suspended above this nothingness in a translucent orange crystal orb, was David. There was no way to reach him. They had failed, and they were out of time…


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**10**

#David, listen to me carefully,# the wolf told the teenager. #This is your mind, you must take control of it and free yourself.#

#I can't,# David pounded on the inside of his crystal prison. #There's some kind of feedback loop. It hurts if I touch it.#

#No,# the wolf told him. #The feedback exists only because you think it does.# David shook his head, he didn't understand, and he was weak. Inside the wolf's mind, Ilehana turned to her father and her love.

#I can break the prison, but it will be for nothing if he falls into the void. You two must separate from me and join with David, to give him the strength and knowledge he needs to save himself. If we don't do this, we all die, including Jean. There is no way back without David.#

Grudgingly, Charles and Logan assented. They separated from the wolf, hovering in Charles' form at the edge of the precipice. Alone again, Vixen returned to her blonde she-wolf form. She was weaker, but she did not need much strength for this final act, and there was no need to keep her reserves. Not anymore. Xavier-Logan caught the trail of her thoughts and was aghast. She could not do this! She could not leave them again!

#If I don't, I die anyway,# Vixen told them calmly. #I have broken my pact with the ancients by coming to your aide, to my brother's aide. Please, I have already made my goodbyes and they were hard enough the first time. There is no time, and my brother needs me. Pack comes first.#

Before Xavier-Logan had time to argue, Vixen turned tail and ran back the way she had come. Happy with the distance, Vixen turned to face David. She coiled her muscles, springing forward to sprint headlong for the cliff top. At the last possible moment, she kicked off the solid ground and leapt out into space.

She felt suffused with love as Xavier-Logan briefly passed over her, before merging with David as she had requested. Vixen hit the crystal cage and pain cut through her muscles. Somehow she managed to dig in her claws and teeth, worrying the orb like a terrier worrying a bone. A violent crack reverberated all around, and the orb spilt from top to bottom. Vixen poured in all her energy, forcing the crack wider, making the orb disintegrate.

The last thing she saw was the look of pure gratitude on the face of the half-brother she had never known, and now would never get to know. Exhausted, spent and beyond saving, Ilehana Xavier felt the orb finally give way. She slipped, but had nothing left to fight it. Elegantly, peacefully, Vixen gave up. The blonde wolf plummeted into the blackness of the void. She fell forever in darkness until after immeasurable time bright white light burst all around her, suffusing her with tranquillity.

When the orb vanished, David also started to fall. Xavier-Logan cried out #No!# and showed him how to change the landscape of his own mind. Solid ground rose up to meet them, and lights came on around them. Finding his place again in his own mind, David took control of his body. Within moments, Xavier was sending Logan and Jean back to their own bodies. Soon he followed himself, grimly dragging himself from the dreamscape, back into the real world where he must face losing his daughter a second time.

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Blaze had been unconscious the whole time the battle with Lucas had been going on. Only with his demise did she start to come around again. Even before she opened her eyes to the bright new day, she could feel the beginnings of a migraine burning behind her eyeballs. She couldn't quite put her finger one what had happened to her. That all changed when she opened her eyes, pushing herself off the floor into a sitting position.

The first thing that Blaze saw was a blond youth she did not know and yet she vaguely recognised. David Xavier, she realised with some relief. His appearance could only mean that Lucas was gone for good. The relief was transient to the extreme, for cradled in David's arms was someone she did know.

Like a fragile porcelain figurine, the human form of Ilehana Xavier lay unmoving in her brother's embrace. David looked shell-shocked, tears running down his cheeks as he mumbled to his sister's body. The words were private, sibling-to-sibling, so Blaze averted her ears from listening in. Still, the meaning of the scene could not have been more obvious. Blaze immediately grasped the gravity of the situation and a soft denial passed her own lips, "No…"

"This is all your fault!" Logan roared at Blaze as soon as he saw that she was conscious. He crossed the space between them and dragged her to her feet. "You could have told us she was still alive. Now she's gone…gone for good…" Anguished and agonised, Logan flung Blaze back with a wordless roar of tragedy. His claws came snickt through his knuckles, and before anyone even thought to stop him, he had stabbed Blaze through the heart…

… "Hey!" Blaze exclaimed through lips of burning flame. She raised fiery hands and fire-blasted Wolverine in the chest. The force of the blow knocked the feral man to the ground, his claws withdrawing as he landed. Wolverine groaned as his mutation kicked in, healing his burns. There would be no saving his scorched uniform. Blaze retracted her own show of power, returning from her life-saving fire-form to flesh and blood individual.

"She's not dead," David stated matter-of-factly.

"No thanks to Wolverine," pouted Blaze. "And thanks for sounding so relieved, kid."

"I mean Ilehana, she's not dead," David corrected himself. "Dad she has a pulse."

"How can that be?" Xavier asked aloud, going to take Ilehana's pulse for himself. It was true; the pulse was there, weak but steady. "Her consciousness plunged into the void. She said herself it would kill her…" David stood, placing Ilehana's prone form in their father's arms. "I have no sense of her in my mind," said the Professor. "Yet here she is, still alive."

"In a coma," hypothesised the Beast. "We should get her back to the Institute at once Charles, and make her as comfortable as we can whilst we run some tests."

"Of course Hank," Xavier agreed, his eyes never leaving Ilehana's placid face.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me. Ilehana is Corrinth's.

**A/N:** So here it is, the last chapter. I am really sorry this has dragged on for so long. My laptop has had some serious gremlins (ok, I split red wine on it and killed it,) but I have a new one now. Plus wireless broadband (its like being in the future!) so with any luck I should be online more often so I can get back to some serious posting and reviewing. Thank you all for your support, reviews and private messages throughout this story. I found it very theraputic to write this whilst I was having treatment for cancer, so it is really special to me that so many people have been reading it. So without further ado, here it is, the finale of 'Wolf Kindred'. Enjoy, and don't forget to review! Lamby

**11**

As she fell, Ilehana lost all semblance of body or form. She was reduced to, or perhaps liberated as pure consciousness. She was a zephyr of thought and emotion, and the strongest emotion she felt was peace. She drifted tranquilly in the soft, comforting white light that supported and suffused her. There was no sound, no thoughts other than her own, nothing to disturb the serenity but the fragrance of jasmine and lavender. Contented, knowing a sense of accomplishment in regards of her life and confidant that her pack would be safe now, Ilehana was happy. Maybe death would not be so bad after all…

#Death has not claimed you yet,# a myriad of voices, neither male or female, told her calmly. Vixen accepted this unhurriedly; content to take their word for it. Belatedly, she realised that perhaps she was supposed to say something to this strange statement. Concentrating, she tugged her scrambled thoughts into something more lucid.

#Why am I not dead? I broke the covenant.#

#We underestimated you, Ilehana Xavier. Your self-sacrifice, your life so selflessly given up to aide your kinfolk, has been a revelation. You possess a nobleness of spirit we thought had long since ceased to exist in the human race.#

#You have further use for me?# asked Ilehana, recognising the insinuation behind the compliment.

#We shall see,# the ancients refused to be drawn on the idea. #For now, you must rest and regain your strength. The battles to come will be long and dark, especially for you, Guardian of Guardians.#

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Alone in the sanctity of her own room at the Xavier Institute, Blaze tried hard to cry. She sat on her window ledge with her feet drawn up, hugging her knees with her arms. Her brow rested against the chill glass of the window. Dejected and rejected, abused, violated and misunderstood, yet still the tears would not come. Instead she pondered a hot fury, brooding and licking her wounds.

Angel had dumped her, which was no surprise really after what Lucas had shown him of Blaze's mind. It was the way that Warren had broken up with her that was humiliating. He hadn't been able to face her, to tell her in person that it was over. The coward had sent Kitty to break the news to Blaze instead. Shadowcat had stood in Blaze's room, digging into the thick red-brown carpet with the point of her shoe, looking sheepish.

"Look, um, Blaze? Warren's asked me to tell you that… that he thinks you both need some space right now. You gotta both, like totally work out what it is that you want, y'know?"

"He's with Rogue," Blaze said flatly, "Isn't he?"

"Um, yeah," Kitty divulged. "I… I think they went down to Diego's to play pool."

"I hope she puts him in a coma," the fire elemental decided vehemently. Kitty just blinked at Blaze, shocked to the core. Making jokes about comas was not political at the moment. Of course Kitty was too nice to think for a second that Blaze might just be serious. Mumbling some excuse, Shadowcat had made her exit. Blaze had returned to her brooding and no one else had been near her room since. The door was still slightly ajar from Kitty's exit, and no one had so much as strolled past. Blaze wasn't sure if she wanted someone to, or whether she would rather be left alone.

"Blaze," Wolverine's voice, her would-be murderer. The Brit chose to ignore him. "You in there?"

He started to push the door open. Blaze raised a hand and blasted the door with her powers. It slammed shut resoundingly, a big black blast mark charring the woodwork. Wolverine must have got the message as all went quiet in the corridor. Blaze closed her eyes tight against her headache, finding it very hard to care about anything.

When she opened her eyes, there was a small square of folded white paper on her carpet. Someone had slid it under the door. Blaze tried to ignore it, but eventually curiosity got the better of her. She slid gracefully down from the windowsill and crossed the room. Opening the paper up, she read the contents briskly. Once finished, she tossed the note away and positively sprinted from her room. This was big, and she was already late…

Roll credits………………………………………………

Next time, on X-Men Evolution… The Definition of Mutant…


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